


Laundry Night

by Azuremosquito



Series: College Age [1]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:03:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azuremosquito/pseuds/Azuremosquito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not long after moving into the dorm, Anders sneaks downstairs for a late night laundry shift, not expecting his obscenely attractive roommate to join him after he'd already stripped down to his undies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry Night

Anders snuck down to the laundry room and poked his head around the door. It was late, the yellow lights flickering and buzzing, giving the basement room an eerie ambience. Relieved that no one was inside, the rows of washers and dryers standing silent, he crept in and lifted his basket of clothes onto counter.

He was still getting used to college life and between taking 8 classes, volunteer work, and becoming involved in that M.A.G.E. organization, he’d been re-wearing the same clothes for days. Fumbling a wrinkled bill out of his pocket, he did his best to smooth out the kinks before trying to feed it into the coin machine.

The whirring shattered the quiet, causing Andy to jump and dart a glance around. There wasn’t really any _rule_  against doing laundry this late but something about late night silence made everything seem furtive. The machine spat the bill back out.

“Oh come  _on_ ,” he hissed, snatching it and smoothing it across the side of the machine and sticking it in again. He held his breath as the bill got sucked in. Yes, yes, NO! The bill shot out again. “Whyyyyyyyyy?!” He whined to no one in particular. Maybe he had some spare change in his pockets.

Shuffling back over to his laundry basket, he tipped it over, spilling clothes along the counter and rifling through jean pockets. A few pennies, two quarters, and another wrinkled five. Shit. He couldn’t wear these clothes another day. People were starting to give him funny looks and he knew he smelled. Not very hygienic, Doctor Anders.

Shaking his head, he decided to try his luck with the five. Taking hold of both ends, he tugged it back and forth across the edge of the counter until it was reasonably smooth and then tried the coin machine again. He got lucky this time, the finicky machine deciding his offering was acceptable and spitting out a handful of quarters.

Not bothering to sort his clothing, he swept the entire load into an open washer and thumbed a few coins into the slot. It was only after the water started pouring in that he realized he’d forgotten detergent. Spinning around, he spotted a grubby vending machine in the corner with a selection of laundry detergent. Great, another machine that probably wouldn’t take his money.

Wandering over, he scanned the offerings for the cheapest and considered the coins in his hand. It’d take most of them, but he should have just enough left for the dryer. If his clothes were still a little damp, well it was better than reeking of b.o.

Sighing, he stuffed quarters into the machine and punched in the code for what he wanted. The machine creaked and groaned, grumpy at being awakened in the middle of the night to do work, but eventually the coiled springs pushed out the packet of detergent. Pushing up the flap with a clang, he retrieved his prize and made his way back to the now full washer, tearing the packet open with his teeth and dumping it in.

He slapped the lid shut and turned to crack open the textbook he carried down- shit. Glancing toward the door, he hesitated before pulling his shirt over his head and stuffing it into the washer. Toeing off worn sneakers, his jeans and socks followed suit, leaving him shivering in the chill wearing nothing but his Captain America boxers. They’d just have to wait for the next laundry day, he was not standing down here naked.

He turned and hopped up on the counter, folding long legs underneath himself and tugging the textbook into his lap. At least he could get some studying done while he waited.

He’d filled up a full page of notes and switched his laundry to the dryer when he heard the whistling. His head snapped toward the door so fast it was a wonder he didn’t give himself whiplash, just in time to see his roommate of all people saunter through the door. The handsome brunet paused upon discovering someone else in the room, but he gave a cheery wave and plopped his basket on the counter beside Anders.

“Heya, Andy. Didn’t know you were down here.” He started sorting his clothes into separate piles for whites and colors.

“I uh… it’s the first chance I’ve had to get some laundry done,” Andy explained, his eyes lingering on Garrett until the man looked up.

Anders stared furiously at his book, feeling his cheeks flush. _Yeah, great. Ogle your roommate, why don’tcha?_ Besides, Garrett didn’t even like guys. He was always bringing women back to their room, forcing the blond to seek refuge in the library to study whenever he found a sock on the door of their room. Which was often. 

Garrett grinned at Andy and the blond felt his heart flipflop. It was criminal for a man to be that good-looking  _and_  charming. Ugh. He tugged his textbook higher, only then remembering he was sitting there in his underwear. _Shiiiiiiit._

“Nice boxers,” Garrett smirked, wandering over to the coin machine and stuffing a bill into the slot. The machine took it on the first try, the  _bastard_ , shooting out some coins. Andy tried to ignore Garrett, looking for his place on the page as his roommate flipped open two washers and started them up simultaneously.

“I always come down here at night,” Garrett chattered away amiably. “Only way to get laundry done without fighting for a washer.” He dumped soap into the churning water and began shoving his two piles of clothes in. Anders sighed quietly and tried to keep studying. “Whoops! Almost forgot!” Garrett wriggled out of his shirt and tossed it in the near washer.

Anders forgot about studying.

The brunet was lean and fit, a miracle in Andy’s opinion, given what a pig his roommate was. Junk food wrappers littered their dorm room as part of the regular decor. Garrett had a sprinkling of dark hair across his chest and a dark line that led a tantalizing trail into his Levi’s.

Anders cleared his throat and tore his eyes away, feeling his cheeks heat when Garrett glanced his way. Christ, could he give himself away any worse? He’d had bad experiences in the past when men realized he was interested and it wasn’t an experience he cared to repeat. Not that he hid who he was or anything, but he didn’t yet know his roommate well enough to determine if it were safe or not.

His train of thought derailed as Garret kicked off his sneakers and pulled his pants off to reveal… Batman underwear. They almost looked the type a little boy would wear, but unless he’d stuffed a sock down there, that telling bulge was no little boy.

Anders swallowed hard and stared blindly at the book in his lap, the black squiggles blurring together across the page. He felt his body respond to the attractive show as Garrett emptied his jean pockets and stuffed them into the washer, utterly shameless about his near nudity. Anders was very grateful to be sitting with a book in his lap. Hard to explain away an erection at the sight of your unclothed roommate.

“Whatcha reading?” Garrett slid up on the counter next to Anders and the blond thought his heart might stop. Dear lord, this wasn’t happening.

“Uhhh…” His brain went blank and he actually had to flip over the book to remind himself. “Ph-physics.”

“Blegh,” Garrett stuck his tongue out and reclined back against the low wall, folding his hands across the top of his head and bouncing his toe. “Don’t you ever take a break from studying?”

“I do! …sometimes.”

Garrett grinned. “Sure, when you pass out at your desk.”

Andy flushed again, bristling slightly. “Well don’t you ever study? How are you not failing all your classes with all the partying and videogames and women-” he cut off and looked down at the look in Garrett’s eyes.

The brunet didn’t look at all put out by Andy’s tirade, his smirk causing the blond to realize he was being teased. Garrett winked at his roommate. “You’re cute when you get fired up.”

Anders blinked. What the hell did  _that_  mean? Garrett didn’t give him the opportunity to question it, reaching for his phone and tapping the screen, his attention wandering.

Anders stared at the man for a few moments until a loud buzzer shattered the silence. Realizing his clothes were dry, he now faced a new dilemma. His hardon still hadn’t dissipated and had, in fact, grown worse at the proximity of Garrett in his Batman underroos.

When Anders didn’t move, Garrett glanced up from his phone, arching a brow. “Isn’t that your clothes?”

“Er… Yes.” The blond took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to pull this off. If he kept the book in his lap, he could slide off the counter and keep his back to Garrett. Hopefully he’d be too engrossed in his phone to notice Anders walking funny.

With exaggerated casualness, the pre-med student slid off the counter, book held awkwardly in front of him until his feet touched the cold floor. Twisting away from Garrett, he pushed the book onto the ledge and grabbed his basket, holding it at waist height as he shuffled over to his dryer. Flinging the door open, he began pulling everything out haphazardly and shoving it into the basket.

“DC’s better.”

“What?” He straightened quickly, clutching an armful of his clothing. The sly smirk on Garrett’s face made Anders realize the guy knew  _exactly_  what he was doing to his roommate. His face heated up again.

“Your boxers. DC’s better.” Garrett looked at him expectantly.

“Err….” Anders really didn’t feel like getting into this now. Dumping his clothes into the basket and turning for more, he feigned a nonchalant shrug. “I’ve always liked Marvel better.”

“But…  _Batman_ ,” Garrett stated it as if that were clearly the end of all arguments.

“Uh, X-men. Avengers,” Andy fired back. “Deadpool.”

“Superman. Wonder Woman. Aquaman.”

They both burst into hysterical laughter at that last one.

“All right. You win this round. But Batman.” Garrett grinned at Anders and returned to whatever he was doing on his phone.

Anders started to feel as if he might get along with his roommate better than he initially thought. Smiling, he pulled on some jeans still warm from the dryer and shrugged into a clean shirt. Not bothering with socks, he stepped into his shoes and gathered up his things. “Well… I guess I’ll see you back upstairs.”

“Yeah, see ya.” Garrett didn’t look up from his phone.

Not sure what else to say, Anders hesitated a moment before turning to go.

“You should come hang out some time. It won’t kill you to take a night off.”

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Garrett smiling at him.

“Yeah… I’d like that.” Anders smiled back and stepped out of the laundry room, a new spring in his step.


End file.
